A few thousand singers “braved single-digit temperatures Sunday morning to gather at Bankers Life Fieldhouse [in Indianapolis] to audition for The Voice.” reports the Indy Star.
Indy is the first of four cities holding open calls to cast The Voice season 15, airing Fall 2018. Also on the schedule are Boston on January 27, Phoenix set for February 4 and Houston scheduled to take place February 17.
Indiana sent The Voice a champion in Josh Kaufman and a runner-up in Addison Agen, but casting director Michelle McNulty said Indianapolis was selected as an audition site before Fort Wayne’s Agen made her run to the season finale last fall.
“I love to go to cities we’ve never been to,” McNulty said. “We tend to go to Chicago, but we said, ‘Let’s try a different Midwest city and see if we can find some amazing, fresh talent.’ “
As far as what The Voice recruiters are looking for McNulty said it’s not necessarily about show-stopping vocal gymnastics. “It’s also tone and control,” she said. “And moments, that’s what this show is all about. That’s what makes a coach hit their button.”
On Saturday, McNulty told WTHR news that hopefuls need to be themselves. “People that do well on our show know exactly what type of artist they want to be or are. So stick with that genre. If you’re a country singer, be a country singer. I don’t need to hear a pop song from you.”
McNulty mentioned that Addison was maybe going to attend the auditions. However, it looks like she didn’t make it–the news reports from today didn’t mention her.
While 16 year old Addison needed to be accompanied by a guardian at her Chicago audition, McNulty said that, outside of minors, the show discourages singers bringing friends and family to the audition. “Do it on your own,” she said, “friends and family stay away because we actually just want to see the singers.”
If you’re a hopeful who would like some moral support during what could be a nerve wracking experience? Suck it up, buttercup! Heh. In fact, in this clip, a hopeful did bring her brother along, but mentioned that she couldn’t bring him into the building with her. And in this clip, an auditioner performs an entire song for the reporter. Hope that cold air didn’t wreck his vocal cords before the big audition!
Singers who made it through Sunday’s round earned a red card filled with details for a callback audition set to take place later this week.
Indy Star posted a little background on a handful of auditioners, including Indianapolis singers Izzy A’more, Shelby McMahon and Joe Miller.
Izzy played a bodyguard on the FOX show Empire for about 10 episodes. He previously auditioned for America’s Got Talent season 10, but didn’t advance in the competition. Shelby endured three auditions for American Idol and struck out each time. Joe made it passed the initial tryouts when he auditioned for The Voice in 2013. “I try to make eye contact and show my personality as much as I can,” he said of his strategy when singing for show producers.
